Adding value to mine waste through recovery Au, Sb, and As: the case of auriferous tailings in the Iron Quadrangle, Brazil

From the colonial era to modern times, gold mining has played a crucial role in shaping Brazil’s economy, culture, and landscape, particularly in the Iron Quadrangle region. Therefore, resulting waste has accumulated in tailings structures, either from deactivated circuits or plants still in product...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Minerals (Basel) 2023-07, Vol.13 (7), p.1-22
Main Authors: Lemos, Mariana Gazire, Valente, Teresa Maria Fernandes, Marinho Reis, A. Paula, Fonseca, Rita Maria Ferreira, Guabiroba, Fernanda, Mata Filho, José Gregorio da, Magalhães, Marcus Felix, Delbem, Itamar Daniel, Rebelo Diório, Giovana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
As recovery
Au recovery
Circular economy
Ciências da Terra e do Ambiente
Ciências Naturais
Cleaning
Dry cleaning
Economic aspects
Flotation
Geopolitics
Gold
Iron
Leaching
Metallurgical analysis
Metallurgical tests
Metals
Mine tailings
Mine wastes
Mineral industry
Mineral reserves
Mines
Mining
Mining industry
Produção e consumo sustentáveis
Raw materials
Sb recovery
Securities
Tailings
Tailings properties
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Summary:From the colonial era to modern times, gold mining has played a crucial role in shaping Brazil’s economy, culture, and landscape, particularly in the Iron Quadrangle region. Therefore, resulting waste has accumulated in tailings structures, either from deactivated circuits or plants still in production. The present study reveals the potential assessed based on a set of metallurgical tests, assuming specific scenarios depending on the occurrence modes of interesting economic elements. For Au, calcination, leaching, and flotation are promising techniques to recover this element. Tests indicated that toxic elements such as Sb and As could be effectively reused in the form of glass. The generation of other products from dry cleaning techniques was not effective but promising since there was an enrichment of elements with Au, Fe, Al, and K in specific fractions. This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência and Tecnologia (FCT) through projects UIDB/04683/2020, UIDP/04683/2020, and Nano-MINENV 029259 (PTDC/CTA-AMB/29259/2017).
ISSN:2075-163X
2075-163X
DOI:10.3390/min13070863